The practical issues are manifold: the technology to make the drones operational in any sense is not yet in place. It’s all well and good for the unmanned vehicles to fly to a particular GPS site, but how does it then find the package’s intended recipient? How is the transfer of the package enacted? What stops someone else stealing the package along the way? And what happens when next door’s kid decides to shoot the drone with his BB rifle?

Heather Timmons of Quartz writes that, in addition to commercial drone use probably taking years to get government approval, drones can also “explode, or run into things.”

Unmanned drones are guided by not-always reliable GPS and equipped with metal-bladed propellers and batteries that may be prone to combustion.

What, just a story to make sure Amazon dominates the media on Cyber Monday? I’d say your analysis is bang on. The lesson to learn here, folks, is that this is one of those themes that just keeps on giving. Any time you need some quick publicity, reach for a drone…